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The Best Chili Ever Recipe A methodical approach to perfecting classic beef chili.
serious eats ^

Posted on 01/31/2022 3:17:16 PM PST by mylife

gotta admit up front: The title of this article is somewhat misleading. Yes, we will discuss chili, and yes, it's the best chili I personally have ever made.

But! To call something "the best chili ever" implies that the recipe is perfect, and perfection implies that there is no room for improvement. I can only hope that others will continue perfecting the chili work that began on the Tex-Mex border, and that I continue testing, well after the last rich and spicy remnant is licked clean off the bottom of the bowl. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's move on to the testing.

My first step was to set up some parameters that would define the ultimate chili. Certainly, there are disputes in the chili world as to what makes the best. Ground beef or chunks? Are tomatoes allowed? Should we even mention beans? But I think we can all agree on a few things.

The ultimate chili should:

Have a rich, complex chile flavor that combines sweet, bitter, hot, fresh, and fruity elements in balance. Have a robust, meaty, beefy flavor. Assuming that it contains beans, have beans that are tender, creamy, and intact. Be bound together by a thick, deep-red sauce.

To achieve these goals, I decided to break down the chili into its distinct elements—the chiles, the beef, the beans, and the flavorings—perfecting each one before putting them all together in one big happy pot.

The Chiles: this important, as is the meat, i add beef chorizo as well

(Excerpt) Read more at seriouseats.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Food; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: chili; food; recipes
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To: mylife
This is my favorite chili recipe from America's Test Kitchen.

You make your own chili powder from dried Ancho chilis.

Lately, I've been buying a chuck roast and grind it up myself at home.

-PJ

21 posted on 01/31/2022 3:28:55 PM PST by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: CodeToad

Traditional Chili had no beans or Tomatoes.

Exactly the way I like making it.


22 posted on 01/31/2022 3:30:24 PM PST by Pox (Eff You China. Buy American!)
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To: mylife

Stopped reading when I saw beans


23 posted on 01/31/2022 3:31:01 PM PST by Chauncey Gardiner
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To: CodeToad

My chili’s about 4 parts meat to 1 part bean, perhaps the reverse of what you’d find in the typical canned version.


24 posted on 01/31/2022 3:31:02 PM PST by eclecticEel ("The petty man forsakes what lies within his power and longs for what lies with Heaven." - Xunzi)
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To: Political Junkie Too

chiles is key, I use 7 kinds


25 posted on 01/31/2022 3:31:45 PM PST by mylife (France? what can you say? How do you rule a land with 246 kinds of cheese?)
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To: mylife

Oh boy. This is likely to get as rowdy as the “what’s the best conceal carry gun” threads!


26 posted on 01/31/2022 3:32:26 PM PST by brewer1516
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To: Political Junkie Too

Recently tried buying the ground chuck from HEB that is labeled for chilli. Hated it. Too many chucks of grizzle.


27 posted on 01/31/2022 3:32:42 PM PST by BiglyCommentary
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To: brewer1516

yessir...


28 posted on 01/31/2022 3:33:02 PM PST by mylife (France? what can you say? How do you rule a land with 246 kinds of cheese?)
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To: mylife

Remember the reason for heavily spiced foods…

No refrigerator and the spices hid the fouled meat taste.

Curries as well.


29 posted on 01/31/2022 3:33:11 PM PST by GRRRRR (Make America Greater Than Ever Before!)
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To: hoe_cake

By red beans do you mean kidney beans?


30 posted on 01/31/2022 3:34:55 PM PST by laplata
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To: mylife
This recipe uses ancho chilis and chipotle chili in adobo sauce for heat. I also added a jalapeno chili in the initial step when the onion and garlic are softened. The jalapeno chili breaks down in the two-hour simmer in the Dutch oven.

-PJ

31 posted on 01/31/2022 3:36:43 PM PST by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: laplata

By red beans do you mean kidney beans?


Don’t you know anything? They’re Chinese beans.


32 posted on 01/31/2022 3:37:13 PM PST by nesnah (Infringe - act so as to limit or undermine [something]; encroach on)
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To: BiglyCommentary
Yeah, I was using Kroger. Now I'll get a 2.5 lb chuck roast and trim the excess fat and gristle before putting it into my KitchenAid meat grinder attachment.

-PJ

33 posted on 01/31/2022 3:38:03 PM PST by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: nesnah

Chinese beans?

Only pinto beans for me.


34 posted on 01/31/2022 3:39:00 PM PST by laplata
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To: mylife

Beans and tomatoes have no place in chili.


35 posted on 01/31/2022 3:45:34 PM PST by JoanSmith
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To: mylife

Say what? I’ll take that challenge. My KC BBQ chili is the bomb diggity. Smoked Prime Brisket baby!


36 posted on 01/31/2022 3:46:54 PM PST by Tommy Revolts
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To: laplata

It was a joke. 😉


37 posted on 01/31/2022 3:48:57 PM PST by nesnah (Infringe - act so as to limit or undermine [something]; encroach on)
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To: mylife

Everybody has their own version of chili.
I have been making chili for 60 years. The first 30 years I made it the usual way, with ground beef.
Then I tried a recipe I saw somewhere that used pork sausage and added a cup of strong black coffee to the pot.
It was an instant hit with my husband so now I don’t even have to make it anymore.
He has the recipe memorized.


38 posted on 01/31/2022 3:49:40 PM PST by chronicles
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To: mylife

My wife makes it with beans, I don’t.
Later, after eating hers I have to remind her of the consequences…..🙄


39 posted on 01/31/2022 3:50:48 PM PST by telescope115 (Proud member of the ANTIFAuci movement. )
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To: mylife

I prefer my chili to be beanless. If I put any extras in chili, it has to be lentils.


40 posted on 01/31/2022 3:52:46 PM PST by Trillian
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